back then

mick clack
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'back then' is a delightful series featuring classic interviews that orginally appeared in International Online Music (IOM) magazine. This interview with Mick Clack was first published in June 2004 and is reproduced in it's entirety without edits.
 

I first heard 'One hell of a fall' by The Mechanics of Sorrow sometime in October 2003 and immediately wrote a favourable review. The band later won the 2004 IOMA (International Online Music Award) for Best Artist. Then I realised that the equally superb musical saunterings of Frank Fish and the Fins, and Torn Hearts, and Nige and Trev, and Rooftop Studios and Mick Clack all had one thing in common.. Mick Clack! (Mick also went on to win the 2004 IOMA for Best Composer). It's not surprising.. you just can't go around producing and composing such a wide diversity of such excellent music expecting little reaction and 'Lord Mick' as his milkman knows him, has received lots of reactions, particularly when he screams 'Now sit!' and his pet lurcher instantly obeys! Mick Clack is an artist that works with other artists but few of them actually paint anything. Paul Gibbon, sidekick singer/songwriter extraordinaire and Sarah Reeve female vocal princess are two of them, Frank is another and Rose is another. There are in fact... others besides the others and together they produce some of the most innovative and orginal songs and sound collages that I have ever had the pleasure to hear. It amazes me how Michael manages to keep his seat in this roller coaster musical world that he exists in, either way, I'm thankful for the fact that he's around and that's another reason why we invited him over to answer what we consider to be the most revealing and inevitable questions we could come up with..
The Interview - June 2004
Welcome Michael.. can we begin with you telling us a bit about your background in music?

A folksinger friend of my parents gave me a banjo when I was 7 and I immediately removed all the strings and used it as a rather bizarre looking toy gun for playing ‘Cowboys and Indians' with my friends. At the age of 11, I couldn't get through the day without listening to ‘Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band' at least twice so it was no surprise that I was given a black plastic Beatles wig and a half-size, orange, plastic, toy Beatles guitar for Christmas. Unfortunately, the wig didn't fit and the guitar wouldn't stay in tune!

Three years later, my parents bought me a cheap, second hand, ‘Martin Colletti' acoustic guitar with an action so ridiculously high it was virtually impossible to make the strings touch the frets without sustaining serious cheese-wire type injury to my left hand! But.. 15 year old Micky Clack had heard the riff from ‘Sunshine Of Your Love' by Cream and now there was definitely no going back - I wanted to be Eric Clapton!

Guitar lessons at the local Youth Centre proved to be a huge disappointment. Sitting round in a circle strumming ‘Froggy Went A-Courtin' was definitely not my idea of how to get guitar hero blisters on the fingertips. I didn't return for lesson number 2. An electric guitar and tiny practise amp soon replaced the unplayable acoustic and when a school friend lent me a battered Marshall fuzz-box, suddenly I was in heaven and my deafened parents were plunged into hell!

Hours of posing in front of my bedroom mirror and endless rearranging of the notes to ‘Sunshine Of Your Love' led to the formation of a succession of rock/pop bands that gigged regularly in Oxford and the surrounding area in the 1970s playing mainly self- penned material. (Performing songs written by other people has never particularly appealed to me. I could never see the point of trying to copy somebody else's creativity. I've always loved the challenge of crafting an original song from it's initial inspiration of maybe just a melody or half a chorus to the finished article, arranged, rearranged, rehearsed and performed or recorded by a band. That's the real buzz for me.)

In 1982, an eccentric Oxford guitarist/singer by the name of Frank Fish suddenly found himself without a backing band for a weekly blues gig in an Oxford pub called The Radcliffe Arms. Myself, Dale Marshall (drums) and Jerry Soffe (bass) eagerly accepted the invitation to back Mr. Fish when we were told we were to receive unlimited free beer for our services. FRANK FISH AND THE FINS were spawned (hic!) and within a few weeks we'd abandoned the blues covers and written a set of pantomime rock songs all about fish in a pathetic attempt to lure coachloads of beautiful girls back to our luxurious 8 dimensional papier mache Oxfordshire farmhouse.

FF & the Fs soon became notorious in the Oxford area for their ludicrous onstage props, crazed Mad professor frontman (FF) & psychedelic Zappa-esque stageshows but still the coachloads of pouting models failed to show. Undaunted, we wrote MORE songs about fish and did several gruelling tours of the Netherlands , releasing a 7” single in the process. Just before one of these Dutch tours, I got hospitalised with a mystery illness, the tour had to be cancelled and, to cut a long story short, here we are 16 years later, and I've still not recovered. I have good days and bad days and am fortunate to have a studio in the basement of my house (Rooftop studio…geddit?!?) where, energy permitting, I continue to write and record music with my good friend Paul Gibbon (Absurdly talented singer/keyboard player, and sickeningly prolific songwriter!) Our two main projects are TORN HEARTS which is an outlet for our pop/rock material, and THE MECHANICS OF SORROW - an ongoing country/country rock recording project at Rooftop.

The crystal clear voice of Oxfordshire singer Sarah Reeve is an invaluable ingredient to both Torn Hearts and Mechanics Of Sorrow. Sarah has been ‘thrown in at the deep end' on more than one Rooftop studio session and always manages to give a magical performance with those wonderful Woodstock vocal chords!

I continue to write and record as often as possible with my great friend, the unique Mr Frank ‘King of verbal diarrhoea' Fish. Frank is actually based in Holland these days but he visits Clack Towers for a long weekend now and again and we always enthusiastically lock ourselves down in the studio for most of his stay, both proudly wearing our inflatable Acme ‘Nige and Trev' Wyncyette Viking helmets.

From a humble studio engineer's point of view, the hardest thing about recording FF's voice is trying not laugh at his inexhaustible flow of hilarious ad-libs. Frank prefers to record his vocals in the control room so any bursts of uncontrollable giggling from yours truly will inevitably end up on tape. (Funny how we still say ‘on tape' even though this is the age of multi-tracking on PCs with Cubase!). Frank's last whirlwind visit to Oxford was in September last year (2003), when he was accompanied by our mutual friend and all round good bloke/superb guitar player Andre Van Solinge. Andre contributed some sizzling guitar to the tracks ‘Naomi and I We're Trees' and ‘Wizard Of The North' and was joined on both of these tracks by 18 year old Rose Kemp, frighteningly talented daughter of Steeleye Span's Maddy Prior and Rick Kemp.

The Nige & Trev ‘Recording Rose Kemp' plan was simple….We handed her a couple cans of cold beer and a pair of headphones and said ‘Just sing what you like!” then we rolled the tape…er…I mean, clicked the mouse. The results were simply stunning. What a voice! Grown men in the Rooftop control room were visibly sobbing into their Stella Artois. It has to be said that Dale ‘Whale' Marshall, original drummer with Frank Fish and the Fins, also contributed greatly to this wiotous wock'woll'reekend with his top-notch tub thumping on the aforementioned brace of bile-inducing ballads.
What would you say have been your pivotal musical influences?
Influenced, spiritually uplifted, and constantly inspired by Jimi Hendrix, The Blue Nile, Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band, Steve Earle, Miles Davis, Frank Zappa, Duane Allman, Lowell George, John McLaughlin, Derek Trucks, Mark Eitzel, Motown, The Beatles, Lord Buckley, Mario Lanza, Earth Wind and Fire, Patto, Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, XTC, Morecambe and Wise, Jimmy Webb, The Turtles, Chaka Khan, Man, Johnny Winter, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Prefab Sprout, Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac, Allan Holdsworth, Adrian Belew, Jeff Beck, Alex Harvey, Clark Hutchinson, Bruce Springsteen, Steely Dan, Free, Nick Cave, Sibelius, Bob Marley, Ryan Adams, Boz Scaggs, Rage Against The Machine, John Otway, Randy Travis, Terence Trent Darby, Eric Satie, Tommy Bolin, Frankie Miller, The Marx Brothers, Father Ted…the dawn chorus…the sound of one lurcher paw clapping…the romantic clash of beak against antler…etc etc
What could you tell us about “high points” in your musical career?

Sharing a stage (many times) with the highly entertaining, highly strung, highly unpredictable performing genius, Mr.Frank Fish, gibbering front man of Frank Fish and the Fins and one half of misunderstood, arty-farty, no-rules, guitar duo - Nige & Trev.

Crafting songs with the prolific Paul Gibbon, in particular: ‘Try', ‘The Timing Has Gone', ‘One Hell Of A Fall', ‘Shade' and ‘Telepathy'. Paul G…master of the melody.

Recording the awesome vocal chords of the stunningly talented Rose Kemp at Rooftop last year.

(Check out her debut album ‘Glance' on Park Records. I play guitar on a few tracks and Paul Gibbon plays keys)

Receiving my framed IOMA 2004 awards for Best Artist (Mechanics Of Sorrow) and Best Composer. Genuinely chuffed to bits! The mantelpiece now looks complete.
How about low points?
The cancellation of Frank Fish and the Fins 1988 Summer tour of Holland due to the onset of my long term illness.
If you could turn the clocks back, is there anything you would have done differently?

On April 16 th 1969 I was 13 years old and was one of the 50,970 strong crowd at White Hart Lane watching Spurs play West Ham.. I was sat high up in the home supporters'stand behind the goal and was so unbelievably excited at seeing my hero Jimmy Greaves in the flesh. Suddenly Greavie's through! He's only got the keeper to beat! He's running towards the goal that I'm sat behind! He's going to shoot! He's…..oh….. Oh dear . Just as Greavsie's boot was about to connect with the ball

50,869 people in the crowd stood up leaving me still seated with a wonderful view of the back of the bloke in front of me and, yes, Greavsie scored. It was the only goal in the match and I missed it.

So, in answer to question 9 Mr. Lynch, if I could turn the clocks back, I think the only thing in my life I might do differently is to stand up just before Jimmy Greaves scored that goal but there again, maybe it's wiser just to leave things as they are. It's easy to assume that if you barely change a cause then you'll barely change the effect but if you go along with what meteorologists call the Butterfly Effect ie If a butterfly chances to flap his wings in Beijing in march, then, by August, hurricane patterns in the Atlantic will be completely different, who knows what huge effects could result from me just standing up for a few seconds at White Hart Lane instead of sitting down? This one simple action could have resulted in my whole life turning out completely differently! So, thinking about it, I'm going to stick with all the stupid decisions I've made in my life, all the wrong turns and costly mistakes. I wouldn't change a thing!

Blimey, Lynchy! This is all getting a bit serious isn't it? Time to get those lurchers out for a walk I think. (Mick takes the lurcher's out in the rain for 57 minutes and returns to find me trying desperately to slip one of his Strats into a bin bag, whereupon I muttered: 'errrrr I was just protecting it from the splash of the lurchers wet tails Mick!)
Who did you work with on your most recent projects and what would they be?

Frank Fish: Vocals, voices and guitar (Nige & Trev, Frank Fish and the Fins)

Paul Gibbon: Vocals, acoustic guitar, keys (Mechanics Of Sorrow, Torn Hearts, Nige & Trev, GURZUNZ)

Dale Marshall: Drums (Nige & Trev, Frank Fish and the Fins, GURZUNZ)

Perry Smith: Shrieking, bellowing, and answer phone messages. (Nige & Trev)

Sarah Reeve: Vocals (Mechanics Of Sorrow, Torn Hearts & Nige & Trev's ‘The Living World Of Sea Creatures Makes Me Want To Whistle')

Janie Shorter: Sax (Nige & Trev's ‘Message For Jimmy')

Andre Van Solinge: Guitar (Nige & Trev)

Nick Moorbath: keyboards (Nige & Trev, Frank Fish and the Fins)

Rose Kemp: Vocals (Nige & Trev)

Jerry ‘Opah' Soffe: Bass (Frank Fish and the Fins)

Simon ‘The Sarge' Mills: Drums (Frank Fish and the Fins) Vocals ( Mick Clack solo stuff)

Denise ‘Elaine' Eustace: Speaking in tongues (Nige & Trev's ‘Whispering Words')

Reshma: Burps on Nige & Trev's ‘Wizard Of The North'

Available music: NIGE & TREV – ‘Stamp Out M-M-M-Madness In The Air'

FRANK FISH and the FINS – ‘Live Volume 1'

FRANK RABBIT and the BOBTAILS – ‘Lettuce Pray' – Oops! Sorry…this CD is just a recurring whisky-induced buck-toothed horribly grinning nightmare. It really doesn't exist (yet! Heh heh heh!)

Ordering details for above Compact Discs available by emailing me or leaving fifty pounds in used bank notes in the hole in the wall next to the stage door of Binky's Virtual Soup Kitchen!
If you could pick a favourite track from your recent work what would it be?
‘Message For Jimmy', the surreal second track on Nige and Trev's ‘Stamp Out M-M-M-Madness In The Air' CD is a personal favourite of mine. The meticulous construction of this track was a real labour of love and each time I listen to it, I can still become totally immersed in the 15 minutes of nightmarish-yet-ecstatic meandering density.
What musical instruments/equipment do you normally use?

Instruments: 2 x Fender Strats (1 maple neck 1971, I rosewood fingerboard 1972), Gibson Explorer, Fender Squier Strat (with bridge humbucker), Westbury Custom, Eko Ranger 6 acoustic, Fender Squier, Precision bass, Roland W30 keyboard, Hammond, Kawai K4R sound module.

Recording: PC, Steinberg Nuendo, 2x Studiomaster Mixdown Gold desks, Neumann, AKG,Audio Technica, Shure mics, Lexicon, Digitech, ART, Yamaha reverbs, Aphex 104 Aural Exciter, Fatman Valve Compressor, Alesis compressor and D5 Drum module, Tascam TSR8 ½” 8 track, Tascam DA88, Goblin Teas-maid.
Do you have a favourite instrument either as a player or appreciator?

As a player, I suppose it has to be the guitar, and more specifically, my favourite has to be the good ol' Fender Stratocaster. As much as I adore hearing a Gibson played well (eg. Duane Allman & Dickey Betts on ‘Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East 1971'(Les Pauls)………Derek Trucks (Gibson SG) on any one of his breathtaking (Highly recommended!) CDs and on the DVD ‘The Allman Brothers Band live at the Beacon Theatre 2003')………the Strat is the only guitar I feel really comfortable with. When I listen to Jimi's solo on ‘Machine Gun' from Band Of Gypsys – phew! that just does it for me. It goes way beyond strings, and frets, and wood and movements of the hand……it's a spiritual experience for me every time I listen to it. I still get the same chills down the back of my neck as when I first heard it at the tender age of 14.

As far an appreciator goes, and as much as I rant and rave about the guitar playing skills of the young Derek Trucks, there's nothing that gives me a bigger thrill than hearing a great singer flex their tonsils. Examples would be: McCartney's gravel voiced rock'n'roll vocal on the Beatles ‘I'm Down'; ANYTHING by the late Lowell George (Little Feat),ANYTHING by Mario Lanza, Dionne Warwick, Delbert McClinton, Chaka Khan, Aretha Franklin, Terence Trent D'arby etc etc… and more recently and closer to home, 18 year old Rose Kemp just blew me away with her amazing singing at Rooftop Studio a few months ago. If that young woman isn't a household name in a couple of years – I'll eat my balaclava! So, yeah, as a listener, the human voice is probably my favourite instrument with the gee-tarr coming a close second though it could well be a photo finish!
Can you remember your first stage and/or studio experience?

First gig was at the Bradwell Grove Mental Hospital Social Club in Buford (The gateway to the Cotswolds folks!) with a band called ‘That's That' sometime in the 70's. There were a lot of pre-gig nerves and consequently far too much pre-gig alcohol. It was such a harrowing experience for our rhythm guitarist that he left the group the following day. I think we were probably absolutely dreadful but amazingly they did book us for another gig! They must have been mental.

First studio experience was at the BBC in Evesham(?)a few weeks after the disastrous first gig and with a new rhythm guitar player. No, it wasn't Top Of The Pops – we were guinea pigs for a young apprentice BBC studio engineer who needed work experience. He happened to be a mate of our bass player so we managed to wangle an evening's free recording. I still have the demo tape somewhere. Actually, it's not too bad, probably because there were no bar facilities at the studio!
What five albums would you want to find if you were stranded on a desert island with enough food, water, a copy of IOM, a complete collection of signed Beatles guitars, and a fantastic CD player?

Colin! This is TORTURE just being allowed to pick only 5…. Hmmm…ok…here goes:

Trout Mask Replica – Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, Roxy & Elsewhere – Frank Zappa, Hats – The Blue Nile, Band Of Gypsys – Jimi Hendrix, and Joyful Noise – Derek Trucks Band

BUT ….it could just as easily be:

Live Evil – Miles Davis, The Royal Scam – Steely Dan, Live at the Fillmore East – Allman Brothers Band. Darkness On The Edge Of Town – Bruce Springsteen, Steve McQueen – Prefab Sprout

BUT…there again, I couldn't possibly live without :

The Hard Way – Steve Earle and The Dukes, Thanks I'll Eat It Here – Lowell George, Mercury – American Music Club, Sense Of The Absurd – Patto, A Walk Across The Rooftops –The Blue Nile

Oh Gawd…but I literally couldn't survive without:

Peace At Last – The Blue Nile, Fire And Water – Free, Birds Of Fire – Mahavishnu Orchestra, Kind Of Blue – Miles Davis, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road – Lucinda Williams.
Do you have a favourite album cover of all time?
Most definitely and without a doubt ‘Weasels Ripped My Flesh' by Frank Zappa and The Mothers Of Invention. (Artwork by Neon Park).
and what, may we ask, are the five albums you listened to most recently?
Eg and Alice – 24 Years Of Hunger, Chad Wackerman – 40 Reasons, Steven Wright – I Have A Pony, American Music Club – Everclear, Miles Davis – Big Fun.
What five movies did you watch most recently?
Sonic The Hedgehog – The Movie (I watched this with my son Milo !), Scorsese's ‘The Last Temptation Of Christ', Monty Python's The Life Of Brian, Carry On Matron, Harold and Maude.
Which artist would you most like to meet or borrow a bag of sugar from as a next door neighbour?
n/a
If you could have been responsible for writing the best song or piece of music ever written, what would it be?
John Cage's totally silent 1952 composition "4'33""
If you could have three wishes, what would they be?

Wish number 1:

On arrival at the above desert island with my permitted 5 CDs (and my illegally smuggled in 10) I'd discover the following albums underneath a palm tree along with a crate of Jamesons Irish Whisky and an Internet ready PC with high speed broadband connection…

Hot Rats – Frank Zappa, Weasels Ripped My Flesh – Frank Zappa, Clear Spot – Captain Beefheart, Spotlight Kid – Captain Beefheart, Lick My Decals Off Baby – Captain Beefheart, Heat Treatment – Graham Parker & The Rumour, His Royal Hipness – Lord Buckley, King Of America – Elvis Costello, Get Happy – Elvis Costello, I Have A Pony – Steven Wright, Wander This World – Jonny Lang, Back To Oakland – Tower Of Power, The Good Son – Nick Cave, Untitled – The Byrds, My Aim Is True – Elvis Costello, Ingenue – KD Lang. Babylon By Bus – Bob Marley and The Wailers.

Wish number 2:

Each time I finish the above bottle of Jamesons – it would be miraculously full again.

Wish number 3:

World peace, global harmony, no more killing in the name of religion and a redesigned, softer Thunderbirds 2.
On to the more intimate side of Lord Mick.. what did you dream about last night AND you can't say 'I do not remember'...

A giant tartan amoeba was wearing my best suit and hiding behind a mound of pickled walnuts on a deserted beach as I shouted ‘Horse!' at a group of women in an attempt to warn them of a rapidly approaching runaway pony. The angry women thought I had shouted ‘Whores!' and began to chase me with big transparent sticks. I hid behind the walnuts with the amoeba who had now changed into my grandfather. He turned to me and said “ “The last train left this station a long, long time ago – you need a shave.”

The enraged women were closing in on me fast so I climbed to the top of a huge white cup and sat nervously on the badly chipped rim watching them wave their sticks at me hundreds of feet below. Suddenly, 99% of the things I always meant to do but never had the time appeared in front of me on a giant saucer. The saucer was willow-patterned, the cup was plain. I could smell bacon and eggs being cooked and decided to practice kissing techniques on the back of my left hand. My grandfather was looking at an apple through the wrong end of a telescope. There's a dog chained up, howling in a back yard I don't recognize and some coconut shells dangle on a washing line. Somebody hands me a cold can of Guinness and a glass. A small child watches me and chants “Chocolate beer! Chocolate beer!”

(Note: Must stop eating cheese just before I go bed)
And, if we were to “shadow” you on a typical day, what might we do?

Start the day with a hot mug of Earl Grey tea before ironing the daily pile of perfumed balaclavas constantly creased by my neighbour's tethered lynx. Study ‘The Acme Dictionary Of Dreams' over a bowl of steaming Etruscan muesli. Take my 5 year old son Milo to school, take my two lurchers for a walk/run over Oxford's Port Meadow then back home to watch a bit of ‘The Allman Brothers – live at The Beacon Theatre 2003' DVD which never fails to spiritually uplift me and make me marvel open-mouthed & knock-knee'd at the wondrous sounds that young Derek Trucks effortlessly coaxes from his Gibson SG.

Then, after elevenses, it's on with the white lab coat and antique miners helmet and down the rickety basement steps to the Rooftop Recording Studio which I run with the frighteningly talented Mr.Paul ‘Maximus' Gibbon. After 3 or 4 hours pretending to be Dr. Frankenstein, I take a break from spawning yet another mutant Nige'n'Trev composition and walk to the local school to pick up young Milo . That's a fairly typical day from 7.00am to 4.00pm though I'm not giving anything away about what happens between 400pm and midnight . A man's got to have some secrets!
What did you do, the day before yesterday?
Woke up naked, gagged, bound, tarred, feathered and confused in the middle of the busy Oxford High Street. Ate past-their-sell-by-date Cornflakes and condensed milk from my upturned ill fitting yet treasured plastic Beatles wig. Traced a masterpiece then raced a master pie. Slept far from soundly for five and a half hours on a diecast model of Thunderbird 2. Bought a book called ‘How to Analyse Your Amoeba Dreams' then my good friend Frank Fish phoned me from Holland . “Do want some advice Mick?” He said. “Yes please!” says I. “Never take advice” is his well rehearsed reply. Oh how we laughed!
If someone were to tell you to pack your bags and 'never come back' what would you take?
Just one thing….the enforced bag-packer's bible (now available in paperback) ‘How to Sneakily Come Back the Next Day After You're Told To Pack Your Bags And Never Come Back'
What bugs you most?
People who complain about other people complaining.
What makes your day really shine?
Watching my lurchers run for the pure joy of running.
I hate to end it all like this Mick but.. finally, what are your plans for 2004?
To complete the debut Mechanics Of Sorrow album, the second Nige and Trev album and to build two big sculptures on our back lawn. The first one is the word ‘FLEXIBILITY' made out of really rigid material. The second one is the word ‘RIGID' which, naturally, will be constructed from a highly flexible medium. I've also got plans for a 150 metre high display of the word ‘INVISIBLE' which will be positioned somewhere where everybody can see it.
 
Mick Clack was interviewed by Colin Lynch for IOM magazine in June 2004
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